[stylist] To ponder- to take to another level

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Lynda,

Very good question. It's a two-fold problem.

First, Braille isn't as accessible as it should be. With digital
Braille, it is making material more available but not as much as print.

Second, the schools push kids who may have some level of vision to use
print, but nine times out of ten, it's difficult for them to read. And
kids determined by the education system as eligible for Braille
instruction, are either not given the opportunity because of the lack of
resources, or the instruction is poor.

School administrators will tell you they have criteria in which they
evaluate a student, and they alone determine if a student qualifies for
Braille instruction or if they can use print. The system is flawed, and
due to the lack of resources and teachers who know Braille, most
students are forced to use print. At the end of the day, it's easier to
force print upon them as opposed to learning Braille. And sadly, many of
the Braille instructors teach Braille from a print book. Many of them
can not read or write the code themselves. This is like me teaching
Spanish even though I can't speak it myself.

There's a lot more to this issue, and many here can speak personally on
the topic, but these are two of the major problems.

I feel blessed that I learned to read and write sighted because I didn't
have to deal with this issue. It's sad and unfortunate and needs a
resolution, but school administrators around the country refuse to
listen to people like us, people who use Braille on a daily basis,
because we are not the "experts," they are. This is obviously a flawed
manner of thinking, but what can we do? And many parents aren't aware of
services out there like state rehab centers for the blind or
organizations like the Federation. The Federation has an entire division
dedicated to issues like this among other things. It's the Parents of
Blind Children division. Nationally, it's one of the strongest and
largest divisions, but on the state level, not every state has a
sub-division, like Nebraska for instance.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter, editor, Slate & Style
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can
satisfy, we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for
another world."
C. S. Lewis

Message: 16
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 19:08:43 -0500
From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] The ponder to take to another level
Message-ID: <24F78E39642B43BCBA2C879D0D8AA7FD at Lambert>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
	reply-type=original

What I am not understanding here, in this discussion, is why are the
parents 
of blind children not getting the help they need for their  children?
Don't 
they have access to Braille so they can be learning at a very early age 
while they are still at home - before they even enter school? Why
wouldn't the parents seek help and get their children a jump start so 
they can succeed at school?
Is it not available?  Just wondering why they would wait so long before 
getting the help started.

Lynda